Rex Smith: Linked by hard days and media

You will look back on this as the Ice Storm of 2008, just as you remember the October ’87 Blizzard or the Mechanicville Tornado. We apply labels to these big events, and we recall where we were and what we did, and we tell stories about them for years.

Disasters become the shared experiences that help define a culture, for a community or a country. Everyone reading these words remembers what they were doing when they learned about the attacks of 9/11. Most people my age have a similar sensibility about Nov. 22, 1963, just as older readers can call up memories of Dec. 7, 1941. What happened on those days changed all Americans.

The impact of the Storm of 2008 won’t compare in scale to the assassination of John F. Kennedy or the raid on Pearl Harbor, but dealing with this mess — which a spokesman for National Grid described as a “devastating” event — will change us. Perhaps a quarter-million customers will be without electricity, some probably for days, and, if nothing else, our perception of winter storms will be different from this day forward.
Around our newsroom Friday, everyone was talking about their own experiences. One guy described Colonie cops making sure a downed power line in his yard wasn’t live. Another worried about the branches that blocked his driveway, leaving his wife and daughter stranded in their home. Everybody wondered how long it would be before their power would be restored. Before long, I’m afraid, we’ll be talking about burst water pipes, spoiled food in the fridge and where we managed to find a shower.

When these big events occur in a community, people turn to their local news media. So newspapers discard what would otherwise have been on our front page and many broadcasters scratch their usual programming. We have a different role in these moments, one that involves linking together the people of our community.

Nowhere is that more clear than on AM radio, which ordinarily is a clatter of angry voices echoing each other. As the magnitude of the storm became clear yesterday, stations abandoned the political meanderings of, say, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck (honestly, I can’t tell one from the other) and turned their attention to what was going on in Stillwater, Schaghticoke and Schenectady.

There were school closing announcements and lists of warming shelters. A caller needed to find kerosene in Saratoga County; within a few minutes, another guy had an answer. Mostly, though, people talked about their own experiences, and the radio hosts commiserated.

The role of the media in days like these is not just to tell people something they don’t know, but also to explore the shared experience of a community. For journalists who started our careers in newspapers and now work both in print and on the Web, there is both tradition and something new to celebrate in how we do this.

The newspaper you hold gives you a complete and reliable view of what was going on around you, a view that you might say is mediated by a reporter. We try to be thorough and give you useful information in a readable form.

On the Web, you get that, plus what you might consider do-it-yourself reporting. So on timesunion.com, you can post what’s going on in your neighborhood, and a cool map will show a sort of pushpin with your report and others. In effect, you become the reporter, creating what’s often called user-generated content.

Almost coincidentally, timesunion.com rolled out a new service Friday: text alerts for school closings. If you carry a BlackBerry or some other mobile device, you can sign up to get an alert the minute the school your kid attends announces a closing. In effect, you’re choosing the specific kind of news you want from us.

Interestingly, even on a day when hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses lost electricity, many people turned to the Web. Timesunion.com reported 840,000 pageviews by evening, roughly 40 percent above the volume last Friday. The pageviews on mobile devices were more than double the previous record day.

This sort of interactivity is a new capability in journalism, but it’s not a new mission. Linking neighbors to each other has always been one of our goals. On days as difficult as what we shared Friday, it’s vital that we do it well.

Rex Smith is editor of the Times Union. Share your thoughts at http://blogs.timesunion.com/editors.

Rex Smith

13 Responses

Rex, we don’t see much about the MisLabeled “Call to be Church” that Bishop Hubbard is calling his quest to close parishes for what appears to be a way to raise money to pay for the sex scandal. Now are all paying for it.

Although Bishop Hubbard might claim the Spirit of God entered him for the purpose of leading him to close churches because it is the right thing to do, in many cased the parishes that are being chosen for closure lead one to a different conclusion. In fact, it appears that the Albany Roman Catholic Bishop Hubbard is closing perfectly good Catholic Parishes, not because of the priest shortage, but rather to ensure the Diocese has enough monetary funds to pay actual, punitive and/or settlement damages in connection with the Priest sex scandal. If true, it is an outrage!!!

I remenber nearly getting killed after an ice storm back in the 60’s. I was delivering the morning Times Union when I was young and didn’t know better by pulling the papers behind me on a my Sled up Winthrop Avenue. Yes I watched the muscial NEWSIES and could identify with those kids for all the hard work and meager pay one got from the T.U. back then..

The world seemed a magical and beautiful place with all the lights shining and reflecting off the ice on the Trees. Just shortly after I passed one of those big old stately Maples, a 3 foot thick branch that was overhanging the street came down with a loud CRACK and then a burst of air blowing by me and a loud groundshaking thud, only missed me by fifteen feet and maybe six seconds..Thank you Lord!

Which brings up the subject of Emergency Preparedness across the Tri-City areas.. If one does not have electricity and their only radio is not battery powered, as do a lot of the Seniors I know, how does one know where to go? Are brochures mailed out early in the year listing the shelters in your area?

And wouldn’t you figure that after at least a hundred years of power outages in the City of Albany due to storm damage or every time Mother Nature burps, that the Power Companies would have realized by now that it might behoove them to put the lines underground? I know that makes sense, I’m sorry was educated outside of New York after High School…People make fun of Kalifornia but they are light years ahead of the Tri-Cities when it comes to disaster preparedness.

There is an idea for an entire Newspaper Section! Something the everyday Citzen could use, and refer back too… You would Scoop the electronic Media because the citzens could easily refer back to the print and not the electronics which we know are useless after a storm…..

The Times Union Emergency Prepardness Issue!

10 pages at least that list the most common forms of Disaster issues in the Tri-Cities and provide the populace with the plans of their Hometowns Emergency Preparedness Plans, if they have any…

List actual Sources and Shelters that people can go to if need be in their area. A source of Water, a source of Sandbags, Food, Clothing, Shelter from the heat and cold!

The Plans should have been drawn up by local officials to mean walking distance but that might to be to far advanced for the Tri City Area Agencies.

Provide a list of what supplies the average family of four will need for at least a seven day period not the typical three days some Emergency Agencies publish which have turned out to be almost useless rubbish in real use as in events in Kalifornia and Louisnana have proved over and over again and I believe it takes a minimum of three days for the National Guard to get up to speed…

One area people forget is when stock piling emergency food, they buy a lot of Dehydrated or Freeze Dried Food items only to find out they did not store enough water to rehydate the food with… In that sceniaro 50 gallons of water doesn’t last very long for a family of four..and don’t forget, don’t store all the water in one container for if it leaks, it’s all gone…

What a true public service that would be…Just think of the advertising revenue that could be generated by listing stores with emergency supplies for sale, along with at least 30 Catalog outlets and Websites as well,, all potential revenue.. Walmart would probably be at the top of the list… Write about heat tabs versus Propane, Emergency Blankets and Sleeping bags, Stoves, Lanterns, Dangers of inside heating especally with open flame.. Articles how how to cook in a Fireplace.. and Blankets,, good thick Wool blankets, at least 50% wool over your standard in house blanket which is almost useless outdoors. Or what to do when the Toilet doesn’t work…Proper burial etc. etc.

Personally I can think of over a hundred Issues that one should mention… Or Spread the Emergency Issues out over a period of time, as in Installments!

There you go one heck of an idea and I won’t charge you a dime for it…

Personally, I learned after living in Kalifornia, and being part of an ERT, to keep an Emergency Box in the back of my pickup truck. It is a Plastic box approximately 2 x 3 x 2 found in the sporting goods sections of most outdoor stores around $35.00.. The box stays there 24/7/365. Monthly I replace the water and check for outdated items. It contains Water, Food, Clothing, Tools, Radio, Batteries and just about everything I need for one week. I won’t live like a Government offical during a disaster, but I won’t be Cold, Hungry or Thirsty… When I lived in a Free State I also kept a 22. rifle with 100 rounds of ammunition in the truck but now that I don’t, I do not out of fear of reprisal from the goverment. But I bet a lot of woman in parts of New Orleans and Louisana as a whole, and at the Dome wished they had one…Which the press seemed to surpress reports of for some reason…

So there you go just about lined out for you Mr. Smith and I didn’t even comment on the amount of insipid baloney in your blog today, hey I feel like the Press giving the Polticians and Obama a Free pass! How wonderful of me, maybe you’ll allow me brown nose you like they do!

Mayor Jennings, where are you?? My house is lucky enough to have power, but my parents, my aunt, my neighbors do not. Why haven’t we heard anything from our Mayor? We all hear rumors about when the power will come back, but not a word from city hall. Did I miss something? Half of the Buckingham Pond neighborhood is without heat, without electricity. Can we have some info, please?

After reading all of the other communities that worked so hard to help their residents, I would like to know what happened in Waterford, We were not put on s State of Emergency leaving us lower on Nimo “fix” list. Where was our Town Supervisor John Lawler, sitting in his warm cozy home, because he certainly was not out checking on the people of Waterford? As a senior citizen I feel that we were the forgotten people, no one ever bothered to check on me or my neighbors, if it was not for family we could have froze to death.

How many years have come and gone with the populace losing power and people and dying from the cold… Why are the Power Companies allowed to get away with it???? From the Days of Niagra Mohoawk to Nimo to National Grid and so on and so on… Are not the companies boards guilty of Murder?? What have they done over the past 100 years to prevent the outages? Hang more wire from trees??? Duh! That seems to be the problem!

Wouldn’t burying the lines be safer than hanging the wires from an artifical tree subject to the whims of Mother nature? yes of course some of the lines have to be above ground, but a few hundred repairs is still better than having to make thousands of repairs….

Meanwhile National Grid sits warm and snuggy in their plush offices making big bucks in Overtime pay already probably working on the idea to ask for a BIG RATE INCREASE to cover the cost of their own negligence! And the crews are happy because their going to make big bucks as well in over time pay.. And those who come from Out of State or more than 8 hours of drive time are really happy as well but the suffering people aren’t happy,,,are you?

That is the true story behind this disaster, Human suffering and death as well as the loss in millions of dollars to frozen foodstuffs in the home, and the loss of business to thousands of small businessmen who make up the backbone of this country….

You ask the Mayor for Help, he’s a nobody in this case, it is the Governor that needs to be questioned and the Public Utilities Commissioners…. There ya go, now what are they going to do about it other than use the media to get face time…….

as it appears you have limitless time to spare and more than enough hot air to go around – why don’t you, just one time, talk to the crews whose job it is to fix the power and find out a few facts about what they do and how and why. Sure, sounds like a great idea – let’s put the wire underground…..however, in the warm months you will be complining that you don’t have power when the high voltage lines get damp and short. Then you will make noise about all the people with no air conditioning.

As for the “big bucks” the crews make – certainly they are paid overtime and they bloody well deserve every penny. I don’t see you out in the cold and snow and freezing rain, busting your butt and risking life and limb. Not to mention the probably 20 out of 24 they are working.

The day you come up with a perfect system where no one loses power EVER and that can be done at a cost you are willing to pay, then some of us might listen. Until then – leave the crews out of it.

And, no, the media is not perfect – lord knows Rex has, from time to time, heard me say a few words of, well, complaint. However – until such time as you have managed to climb down from the rather substantial soapbox upon which you perch – lighten up. It is exactly the Mr Knowitall attitude you take which makes it impossible to make change. Not a single person I know will take a guy with antlers seriously (Thank you Jay Ward)

Part of the problem is due to the shortage of people employed, locally, by National Grid. Many fewer than were available when this same public utility was named Niagara Mohawk and a U.S.-owned enterprise.

#6 PetBoySherman,,,I lived with an expert for over 18 years… a retired Pole climber and tunnel rat of some 25 years experience wiring the Cities..My Father-In-Law and I have a Cousin who Retired from NIMO and Bell that worked the Tri-Cities.. And they brag about the big money they made every time their was a storm and there is no real push to get the job done.. Safety First of course….

So I see you do not know much about wiring for those problems and the Techniques were solved over 30 years ago and not a problem and are now used all over the United States and the modern world.

The power company just chooses not too..

You use an inert gas to semi-pressurize the lines with which keeps the moisture out.. It just means the Power Company has to pay a Crewman to go around every couple of months and change the bottle..

At my Father-In-Law and Cousins former company, they layed off hundreds of workers or bought them out, now they offer them up to $1500. a day for the experienced guys to come and work in emergencies…

So where did you get your information from??? The Media, The Public Affairs Officer at NIMO or National Grid??

@eddie s – Burying electric and other service lines is certainly possible, but would cost billions of dollars to implement.

In the UK, Prince Charles identified burying utilities in shared utility ducts for the planned communities being built in the Duchy of Cornwall as a top priority — and even in that case it took years to design a system acceptable to all parties.

In Germany, Bremen is a city where all utility services are buried in underground ducts — resulting in a beautiful city with streets that lack the bumps caused by construction. In the case of Bremen, they had the “advantage” of being leveled by allied bombing and having access to Marshall Plan aid in the postwar era.

In US built up suburban and urban settings, you’d have all sorts of implementation issues. Trees, sidewalk and street replacements, right of way issues, poorly designed stormwater systems and incidental damage to existing utility connections (water/sewer) would make any such effort expensive and difficult.

Commonsense, so the money the Electic Company’s use to enrich themselves and support the life style of the Board Members, who probably make large poltical donations, and of course, the old fall back excuse,,the Stockholders wallets,, is more important than human life!!! That is common sense for you? You must be shill for them… How much did they pocket this past year??? How many bonuses did they give out just for showing up to work,,,How much of that could have gone for putting the system underground?

What are you going to do when the next outage maybe kills off your parents, or grandparents who are trying to survive on their minumum income due to the tax policies of your government who enrich themselves at their expense and maybe a couple of your friends or even yourself…Yup that’s commonsense alright…..

Why do you talk about Europe? How about Looking at Southern Kalifornia,, San Diego for instance, their are few if any lines above the ground.. Look at communities Los Angeles.. Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Las Vegas, etc. etc… Thee speaks with little knowledge me thinks.

Actually the City reached a peak before the Democrats came in and ruined all the jobs of over 148,000,,, And how long has Albany been suffering through these winter storms for how many Years???? Lets see,,, mmm established how many hundreds of years ago…. Mmmm…. and how many of those years have they strung wire from artifical trees..Mmmmmm… Over the years how many people have frozen to death due to power failures that the Power Company’s have trained us like Dogs to rely on…. or how many have died from carbon monoxide poisoning trying to keep warm,,,How many have burned to death from starting fires in the home where the Chimmeny caught fire, hundreds? But is even one death acceptable while the company lines it’s pockets with gold???

So how many years does it take to realize that maybe burying the lines would actually save money over time and most importantly save LIVES.. I bet even a SUNY Professor could figure that out…..even without a Grant…….